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Rating: 
Summary: Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country
Review: Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country documents Erdrich's journey to the Lake of the Woods region on the Ontario/Minnesota border, the traditional home of some of her ancestors. For the most part, I found the book enlightening, and although at first somewhat flustered by the author's style, soon was drawn into her story. The author seemed to me to be quite sincere about her intents and although only part Ojibwe on her mother's side, I felt that she had much appreciation for this heriatge. I feel, therefore, that D. Sander's review is quite harsh and seemingly motivated by other unspecified factors, and is not an accurate assessment of what the reader will derive from this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Out of her depth
Review: First, the disclaimer: I am a great admirer of Louise Erdrich's fiction work and consider her one of America's greatest living storytellers. "Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country," however, left me early and never came back. Her tone throughout this self-congratulatory road trip memoir is stingy and smug while her observations are, at best, shallow to the edge of banality; despite her torrent of words and phrases, one almost never sees what she's seeing or trusts that we're truly feeling what she's feeling, the test of great landscape writing and a surprise, given it is one of her fictional gifts. At her worst, Ms. Erdrich's words convey an emotional immaturity and lack of generosity that betray her age and experience, not to mention her Anishinabeg roots (although it's a separate conversation best held among Indian people, it's worth noting here that this Ojibwa found some of her subjects, particularly those involving the sacred, uncomfortably close to a line of exploitation we should never cross). This book, which impressed me as little more than an exercise in boastful foolishness and a sad and futile attempt, perhaps, at some sort of self-healing by suggestion, was a great disappointment that verges sadly close to disaster.
Rating:
Summary: Travels with Louise
Review: In her novels, Louise Erdrich has never strayed far from the northern plains of her youth, nor the interior landscape of a woman straddling the border of two cultures.And she doesn't stray far in "Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country," her deeply personal, non-fiction reflection on the land and lore of some of her indigenous ancestors. Part travelogue and part memoir, Erdrich takes her infant daughter by small boat to Lake of the Woods in southern Ontario to visit powerful, centuries-old rock paintings still read by contemporary Ojibwe as "teaching and dream guides." She sees these cultural artifacts, like books, as intimate art and communications that transcend centuries. But this trek among the myths and spirits of an ancient culture begins and ends -- and sometimes pauses along the way -- in the contemporary life of one of America's most superb storytellers. It explores the edges of the sometimes-treacherous zones in Erdrich's personal landscape: Family, love and children. "Books and Islands" is the latest title in National Geographic's Directions series, travel memoirs by some of the world's most highly regarded literary figures, including David Mamet's "South of the Northeast Kingdom," and John Edgar Wideman's recent "The Island: Martinique." Fans of Erdrich's earlier fiction, such as "Love Medicine" or "The Master Butchers Singing Club," will glimpse the very foundation of her literary vision in this small, easily read volume, which also includes several original drawings by Erdrich.
Rating:
Summary: a travel memoir
Review: Normally, I would not read a travel memoir, or actually any travel writing. I decided to give this book a chance because Louise Erdrich is my favorite author and I'll read anything she writes. I had no idea what to expect from this book. I knew that it was a travel memoir of Erdrich's trip to Rainy Island at Lake of the Woods. Rainy Island once belonged to explorer Ernest Oberholtzer. Ober, as Erdrich refers to him, was a book collector (among other things). The Island has many cabins that are just filled with books. Since Louise Erdrich is Ojibwe, an author, and a bookseller, this is the type of journey that fits right into her life. We begin the book as she is just arriving up in Northern Minnesota and Erdrich is meeting up with the father of her youngest daughter. Erdrich writes about the Ojibwe, this man's place in the culture (he is a spiritual leader), her daughter, the Ojibwe language, and why she is making this trip. I might expect a travel memoir to focus completely on the journey, but Erdrich deviates from this and talks about everything that influences the trip and the history of the northern Ojibwe and the islands. Erdrich writes about the oral traditions of the Ojibwe and weaves the story of her trip into the narrative. On one hand this is a fascinating journey, but a warning to the reader: this is not like her fiction. This is a slow moving history of Edrich's trip to Rainy Island and a history of the Ojibwe from the Lake of the Woods. This is an interesting book, but it might not be for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: a travel memoir
Review: Normally, I would not read a travel memoir, or actually any travel writing. I decided to give this book a chance because Louise Erdrich is my favorite author and I'll read anything she writes. I had no idea what to expect from this book. I knew that it was a travel memoir of Erdrich's trip to Rainy Island at Lake of the Woods. Rainy Island once belonged to explorer Ernest Oberholtzer. Ober, as Erdrich refers to him, was a book collector (among other things). The Island has many cabins that are just filled with books. Since Louise Erdrich is Ojibwe, an author, and a bookseller, this is the type of journey that fits right into her life. We begin the book as she is just arriving up in Northern Minnesota and Erdrich is meeting up with the father of her youngest daughter. Erdrich writes about the Ojibwe, this man's place in the culture (he is a spiritual leader), her daughter, the Ojibwe language, and why she is making this trip. I might expect a travel memoir to focus completely on the journey, but Erdrich deviates from this and talks about everything that influences the trip and the history of the northern Ojibwe and the islands. Erdrich writes about the oral traditions of the Ojibwe and weaves the story of her trip into the narrative. On one hand this is a fascinating journey, but a warning to the reader: this is not like her fiction. This is a slow moving history of Edrich's trip to Rainy Island and a history of the Ojibwe from the Lake of the Woods. This is an interesting book, but it might not be for everyone.
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